I fell in love with Arcades, the Strategist the moment he was spoiled and it's still my favorite deck, especially with new toys like High Alert and his pet doggy coming out soon. For Arcades to function properly you have to build a proper toolkit with your defenders that can survive without the wall dragon on the field, if people are just filling the deck with one and two-drop Steel Walls and turning them sideways and expecting to win, it's going to get boring quick. That said, the strategy Arcades encourages does result in most of the same cards being used (Axebane Guardian, Tetsuko Umezawa, etc)
On the topic at hand, I rarely see Prossh, Oloro or Derevi anymore. Everyone knows what to expect when up against them whether it's because they're uninteractive or just too strong that they're just not really fun to play with at the average table. Meren and Mizzix are the same thing, used to be everywhere, now they're unicorns.
Atraxa on the other hand is more popular than ever. Just the other week I saw a pod of 5 players all playing Atraxa. It's crazy.
Saheeli seems great. Lord Windgrace is Lands-Daretti with access to green and black so that's cool too. Estrid and Aminatou seem disappointing at first glance, but the fact that Estrid makes aura tokens is neat I suppose.
I think swinging out with walls should be the backup plan and NOT the primary wincon in this deck, as I believe Arcades' true power is his ability to gain card advantage while simultaneously building a pillow fort. Furthermore, I believe this deck should be built under the assumption that Arcades WILL get hated off the table simply because of that animation effect, how scary it is, and how fragile Arcades is as he has no built-in protection.
Thankfully, utility defenders like Doorkeeper, Overgrown Battlement, and Axebane Guardian make sure your defenders all serve a purpose if and when Arcades leaves the battlefield. I think these cards in addition to Sunscape Familiar should be staples in Arcades since they synergize with his abilities but can also function without him. (Though Doorkeeper needs extra help in the form of infinites to really be useful).
From there, wincons are plentiful considering you're in Bant and the amount of mana you can generate with Battlement and Axebane. Omniscience, DramaticScepter with Doorkeeper, Eldrazi, etc. all function well.
I like the deep blue frame a lot, and I like that the "signature spells" are reprints of good cards with new art rather than just the cards that have contained the relevant planeswalker in the past (like Jace's Ingenuity et al).
I look forward to what they might do with Liliana, Ajani and Sorin.
Though hilarious, I find this to be a rather clumsy and impetuous decision by the RC, who I believe underestimate the impact that this decision would have on the format. EDH isn't just a small casual splinter format anymore. CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, but I believe it's the second-most popular way to play magic behind Standard Constructed, and just like regular games of magic it's now enjoyed in places ranging from kitchen tables, to LGS, and to growing numbers of tournaments and side events at official functions where people bring their most competitive decks.
Un-sets throw a massive wrench into all of those settings, and the ephemeral nature of this unbanning means it's a complete waste of investment into Unglued and Unhinged, since at least with Unstable it's a current release and people will have cards to mess around with after they've drafted it that would otherwise be useless.
At most I think they should've made a Whitelist for a few completely fair unstable cards like Grusilda, Monster Masher and Grimlock, Dinobot Leader. Though it has potential to be fun for a few games, this just seems a little on the impulsive side.
I think the RC should weigh in. Silver-bordered cards have been rare up to this point because Unhinged and Unglued are old sets, and besides the rare appearance of Frankie Peanuts you'll hardly ever see un-cards. With Unstable and WOTC's expressed commitment to design the set to retain more conventional playability, a question is presented that should be answered about their legality in Commander.
In my opinion, they should set up a whitelist of silver-bordered cards that are allowed for play. Grusilda, Monster Masher for example is a very fair creature with fun possibilities as a commander but the way things are now she runs the risk of being mired in the ambiguous legality of silver-bordered cards in the format. A friend of mine has also utilized Deadheadin his zombie tribal deck to amusing effect without breaking the game. The Countdown Is at One and its ilk obviously shouldn't be at the table, however.
I think there's a place for un-cards in commander, but they should be treated delicately, and I think the RC should have the final say in the matter before Unstable creates all kinds of... unstable situations at pods regarding legality.
On the topic at hand, I rarely see Prossh, Oloro or Derevi anymore. Everyone knows what to expect when up against them whether it's because they're uninteractive or just too strong that they're just not really fun to play with at the average table. Meren and Mizzix are the same thing, used to be everywhere, now they're unicorns.
Atraxa on the other hand is more popular than ever. Just the other week I saw a pod of 5 players all playing Atraxa. It's crazy.
Thankfully, utility defenders like Doorkeeper, Overgrown Battlement, and Axebane Guardian make sure your defenders all serve a purpose if and when Arcades leaves the battlefield. I think these cards in addition to Sunscape Familiar should be staples in Arcades since they synergize with his abilities but can also function without him. (Though Doorkeeper needs extra help in the form of infinites to really be useful).
From there, wincons are plentiful considering you're in Bant and the amount of mana you can generate with Battlement and Axebane. Omniscience, Dramatic Scepter with Doorkeeper, Eldrazi, etc. all function well.
My first deck was a very janky U/B discard control list using Mind Rot and Megrim as wincons.
I look forward to what they might do with Liliana, Ajani and Sorin.
Un-sets throw a massive wrench into all of those settings, and the ephemeral nature of this unbanning means it's a complete waste of investment into Unglued and Unhinged, since at least with Unstable it's a current release and people will have cards to mess around with after they've drafted it that would otherwise be useless.
At most I think they should've made a Whitelist for a few completely fair unstable cards like Grusilda, Monster Masher and Grimlock, Dinobot Leader. Though it has potential to be fun for a few games, this just seems a little on the impulsive side.
In my opinion, they should set up a whitelist of silver-bordered cards that are allowed for play. Grusilda, Monster Masher for example is a very fair creature with fun possibilities as a commander but the way things are now she runs the risk of being mired in the ambiguous legality of silver-bordered cards in the format. A friend of mine has also utilized Deadheadin his zombie tribal deck to amusing effect without breaking the game. The Countdown Is at One and its ilk obviously shouldn't be at the table, however.
I think there's a place for un-cards in commander, but they should be treated delicately, and I think the RC should have the final say in the matter before Unstable creates all kinds of... unstable situations at pods regarding legality.